Could this be..??

Could this be the end of the drought?     

We had our carpet cleaned yesterday, and the result was,  I cleared out the pig's nest which is/was my sewing/computer room.

The sight of the clean spaces inspired me to make this promised apron, for the son of  wonderful friends. He is such a bright young lad, full of interest in everything, and cooking is one of his interests.

I had promised to make an apron, so today turned out the be the day! I am very pleased with the result- what do you think? 

I used a nice heavy Drill, a blue stripe, which should be protective of clothing. He has made some lovely slices for his parents' recent Birthdays. He is very interested in all types of cooking, & happy to experiment. We currently have a lot of Television shows with male and female cooks, and I think it is a great idea to stimulate children to be interested in nutrition, and cooking in general.

I really did enjoy making this, and will make another with some fabric his mother provided. As a prototype, I was quite pleased with this one.

I am hoping that I can get back into some sewing to help me feel productive. I hate that I have been feeling so lacklustre, and lazy. It is not so much a 'lazy' feeling, as a lack of motivation. I see lots of ideas for creativity, but find the small practical voice in my head saying. "Yes, but what use will it be?" While I realise Quilts never go astray, and are always welcome, I have lost the excitement I once held for the craft.

However I still love the thought of sewing, so hopefully I will get moving shortly! Over the years I have had 'off' patches with knitting, sewing, crochet, embroidery. The good hope is, I usually eventually return to them, so here is the hope I have broken the drought.

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My Beloved Brother's Grandson, has recently turned 2!

Here he is with is cake, at his Grandparents' house. I love the starfish hands!!

Here he is, with his lovely Dad opening one of his gifts. His lovely mother's birthday is one week after his, his Dad's is one week after that! March is a busy month!

Here, I think he is contemplating the properties of a daisy.

And here, he just a gorgeous kid, admired by his doting Great Aunt!

When they are small the time passes all too quickly, and the next thing you know is, they are some slightly surly, susppicious,  teenager, who seems a stranger.

Gom & I consider ourselves lucky in this game of life. Our children remained quite human, and approachable, and we have all evolved into lovely, loving,  adult relationships, without them becoming alienated or distant. We remain good friends, and are pleased they are loving adults, with respect for their, and other people's lives.

We are currently having the Early Autumn heat, with humidity, which is the usual 'extra' we get at the end of Summer. The days seem to have shortened dramatically early this year, however, and I am feeling a definite with to come off Daylight Saving, as I long to linger longer in my bed, in the mornings.

I do love trees, and one of my favourite sights are the trunks of various trees I encounter. They are generally so filled with character. I have resolved to take a pic of one or more, every now & then.

This is Mr Tree, from Kiama Park. It is a Moreton Bay Fig- I think!

Blogger is giving me the irrits! I keep trying to align my type to the left, but it keeps telling me I can't, although occasionally it does work. WTH??

 

I hope this is the left alignment. I love this Mark Knopfler Local Hero piece of music. It can reduce me to tears, on occasion. I hope you enjoy it too.

A Day of Time Out.

We had such a lovely day out of our 'real lives'. We caught a luxury Coach at the crack of dawn, literally, and were so surprised to realise the day was incredibly humid!! At 6am everyone was perspiring profusely, and not comfortable at all.

As we stood waiting in the extremely humid, predawn gloom, for the 'Luxury Coach' we fervently hoped to have quick relief!

You can imagine our glee, to discover the Luxury included wonderful Aircontioned comfort, so we could sit in comfort, dry, and relaxed as our Coach sped off on Motorways & Freeways we had no idea even existed in our State!

As we overheard a fellow traveller exclaim, we had no real conception of the country, as the motorways by- passed all the small towns & communities we sped past, on the vast, double sided Highway to the South.

We were surprised to be in Kiama in what seemed a very short time. We were treated to a Devonshire morning tea, at a Club in Kiama. It was declared to be far too generous, by all who partook. Many did not, manae to eat much of the proffered viands, and the Scones were far too large and far too laden with cream.

However, back onto the Coach, after comfort visits.

On we sped, to the Berry Country Markets. They had many varieties of goodies on offer. My favourite was the Spanish Guitarist, who played one of my favourite melodies. I bought his proffered CD,  as my daughter had provided me with money to get whatever I chose for my recent birthday.

My travel companion is a good friend, and we had many laughs along the way. We sampled wonderful OliveTappenades, dips and sauces. We also tasted some prawns to die for!! One could almost dine out, at the Country Markets! 

I made friends with a lot of small dogs ( and some large, ) who were visitors to the show, with their doting owners.

We were amazed at how green the countryside looked. My friend, who comes from a Region South of here, was amazed, and says she can remember travelling to Sydney, seeing all of this region brown and seemingly dead. We have had a very wet Summer this year.

I have previously blogged about Men & Sheds, & the Importance to their Wellbeing the Sheds provide. Here is a photo of the Men' s Shed in Berry. I am assuming the Men of Berry are in good health!

Our Coach was somewhat bogged down at Berry. Due to recent high rainfall, the Coaches had to keep on moving on, with their parking areas, as they were sinking into the grassy areas they normally used for parking.

Here is a pic of the beach at Kiama, from the Coach.

And here, is the Blowhole performing.

Here. another

view of the spray from the Blowhole. The noise could be quite dramatic. The huge Whumping noise before the spray emerged was eerie in a strange way.

 

Here are the spectators lined up on the viewing platforms to see the Blowhole performing. I have experienced other Blowholes in New Zealand, both in the North and South Islands, so I was familiar with the phenomenon.

When we returned to Kiama, we met a Pink Cow. She was outside a Community Center, which had many fascinating items for sale. One item was a lovely Coffee Table with mosaic work on the surface. My Scrabble playing friend just missed out on buying a lovely turntable, also done in beautiful mosiac.

The local Park was beautiful. Green and full of child friendly activities to be enjoyed.

I felt the gardens were wonderful, and a credit to the small community that keeps it so beautiful.

How green and lush is the Park for all to enjoy.

My friend L & I posed for a friendly photographer, who took our photo under the wonderful Memorial Arch.

By this time, I was seriously lame, and could walk no further, so we went back to the Coach, to continue our journey home.

I am the figure on the left in the pic, looking seriously knackered!!

All in all, it was a lovely day, & we both enjoyed the change of pace, and reality of our everyday lives.

I I have my own computer back, and am quite proud of the fact I mamaged to get my sound up & running on my own. I need to qualify that, as it was with help from my Computer Whizz friend.

Gomez, Tijuana Lady

Seeking the 'Happy Medium'

No, not the reader of the Occult. Just a comfortable way to blog using the loaner Laptop.
As the owner says, it does make your lap rather hot! To say nothing of the mistakes & lost letters etc. ! It seems so slow, takes me ages to even write an email.  I hasten to add, it is user idiocy, not the Laptop.

I cannot seem to make it do as I wish, so I have not been on here much.
Gom has visited the Specialist, and what a nice man he is. Of course he is about 12 years old, but seems very knowledgable, and he is honest I think. He has told us things are not going well, so now there are tests involving cameras....Always a worry. Another 3 weeks to wait for those tests.

In the meantime I have some tests to have myself. I finally went to see the Doctor & will be checked for various things.The stress test is not that far off, & is local, so that is good ~if you can call sweating until you wish you were dead, good!.I think I would rather drop dead than have to go through the test, but as a lot of folk do in fact drop dead, after having been declared fit & healthy, I had better watch what I say!!  I have to wait 4 months to see an 'Orthopeadic Surgeon!  I guess that is the price one pays for living in an area known as the "Holding Paddock"!! Or, as the Christians are wont to say, "God's Waiting Room".

We are having lovely Autumn weather just presently, though it has been a hot & wet Summer.
The good news about my computer is, it was still under warranty, so my lovely Computer savvy friend is going to replace the free replacement motherboard which the company will send out for me.Had I been born in a different era, I think I would have liked to know how to repair computers.

Gom continues to do strange things, but in light of his health I let him go now. I try not to get too riled about the state of the pantry shelves, or the rearrangemenst in the freezer.

We spent more time with our Granddaughter in the waiting room at the Medical Center. We spent a whole afternoon! The Doctor was seeing patients at the rate of one an hour! I guess that is the price to pay for a Dr who is a Nutritionist, rather than a '  drug disher outer' We are pleased our grandaughter is prepared to give diet a fair trial before resorting to drugs.

My 'Big Day Out' seems a distant memory now. I have photos which I intend sharing, when I  get my old computer back. I had a great day out, went for a luxury coach trip with a friend. We went to a Coutry Craft Market, and saw Kiama Blowhole- however a blowhole I remember at Mt Maunganui seemed larger, though I suspect it is gone now.We also visited a lovely Patchwork shop, but I restrained myself, & did not purchase fabric. I suspect there were more Patchwork shops I could have found in the two towns we  visited, but my state of crippledom was too pressing to allow too much walking. We had a nice day away from our 'real lives', & it is something I had wanted to do for a long time. It did not disappoint me, & I enjoyed every minute of it- except for the pain in my foot that crippled me!Getting old sure is a b!tch.

My brother has just been advised by his GP that he will live with pain for the remainder of his life, and will have some better days, & mostly not so good days. As my BB said, he felt very depressed when he came out, to think that was his future.

Gom & I joke about getting the Ulitmate Package. It would be a Euthanasia Package for Four. Gom & I & the two dogs. We see poor animals that have to be surrendered to the RSPCA all the time, because their owners are no longer able to care for them, and no one wants to invest love in an older pet. I honestly think much better to have a choice about such things, from a purely cowardly and practical point of view.

A source of joy for me has been the birth of the little 'miracle' baby elephant at Taronga Zoo. It was certainly better than all the other cr*p news concerning a silly girl and an alleged  bl**dy sports 'hero.' WTH is wrong with the media?? Surely there are stories of interest out there, that dont involve misery of so called 'public figures' GGRRRRRR!

Desperation, Frustration...

Desperate to post.
I have had some lovely adventures I hoped to share.
My Computer has died, the miserable thing!!    Why does it feel like a limb has been severed...haha!!
I am usiing a friend's laptop, which is a learning curve. Look out! I am speeding.

I have had ugly scenes at the Dentist, rigidity hurts my back!!

I have also been on a fabulous day out.
I will try to get back on air, ASAP!!

Alas, no music...

Memories that last forever...

We have had our loved son to stay for the weekend.
He had another birthday to celebrate.

He bought me flowers to celebrate the occasion. My mother would have been so happy. She really loved Gerberas, they were her favourite flowers.
I can see why, they are so unpretentious, and simple and happy and the colours are just glorious works of art!

He is a very considerate son, and says he always regards his Birthday, as "Mother's Day", since, he says,  it was me who did all the hard work, to ensure his safe arrival in this world.

Gom really needed this visit, as he has been quite ill.
I was on the point of panic.

However, Gom seems recovered enough now, to have sneaked out & done foolish things while I was out today, with our daughter.

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So begins our Autumn. The odd thing is, it seems to have turned to Autumn the instant the 1st of March arrived.

We had high winds last night, that kept me awake.

I seem to be the only one who heard them.

I wonder why.

I am glad for the cool, and the gentle rain that has fallen steadily most of the day.

We like some of the Classic Movies.

This song, from so long ago, brings back so many memories, that will last forever.

Nilsson. Everybody's Talking At Me.